Compilation Windows (MSVC 2019, 64 bit, static linkage)

Introduction

NOTE: for qBittorrent revisions older than 63ff5e3 (2020-09-19), use the legacy guide instead.

This page describes how to compile qBittorrent 64-bit/x64/x86-64/amd64(*) (static linkage) using MSVC 2019 under Windows 10(**).

(*): as of writing, compiling 32-bit/x86 versions is also possible but not recommended.

(**): as of writing, it is still possible to compile on/for older versions of Windows, but support for that should be dropped soon.

Install the toolchain and dependencies

Toolchain

NOTE: For those who don't have a Windows system or would like a clean isolated environment for compiling qBittorrent, Microsoft provides free VMs for developers compatible with many mainstream virtualization platforms. These VMs have all or most of these tools already installed and set up for you.

You will need:

• The MSVC 2019 compiler. You can get it by installing Visual Studio 2019 Community Edition.
• The following MSVC 2019 individual components (open Visual Studio and go to Tools -> Get Tools and Features). Some or all of these may already be installed (where applicable, feel free to choose between the Spectre-mitigated alternatives or the normal versions):
  • MSBuild
  • C++ core features
  • Text template transformation
  • C++ 2019 Redistributable Update
  • C++ ATL for latest v142 build tools with Spectre Mitigations (x86 & x64)
  • C++ MFC for latest v142 build tools with Spectre Mitigations (x86 & x64)
  • MSVC v142 - VS 2019 C++ x64/x86 build tools (whatever the latest version is)
  • MSVC v142 - VS 2019 C++ x64/x86 build Spectre-mitigated libs (whatever the latest version is)
  • Windows 10 SDK (whatever the latest version is)
• CMake (the portable zip version is recommended) and Ninja (download them and add the directories where the executables are located to the system's PATH)
• git for Windows or git via WSL/WSL 2, if you have WSL/WSL 2 enabled.

You will need to use either cmd or pwsh (Powershell Core) with the appropriate MSVC environment variables set up to run most commands in this guide successfully:

• For cmd, always run it from the x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2019 shortcut that Visual Studio installs.
• For pwsh, run the following command in cmd:

  pwsh -NoExit -Command "&{Import-Module ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\Common7\Tools\Microsoft.VisualStudio.DevShell.dll""; Enter-VsDevShell -VsInstallPath ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community"" -DevCmdArguments ""-host_arch=amd64 -arch=amd64 -vcvars_spectre_libs=spectre""}"
  

  (to run the same command from an already-running pwsh instance, turn every dual double-quote into a quadruple double-quote).

Using the Developer Powershell for VS 2019 shortcut is not recommended, since it uses the legacy powershell and defaults to using the 32-bit/x86 tools.

The new Windows Terminal is recommended for comfortably using and managing multiple shells on Windows.

Dependencies (static linkage)

None of qBittorrent's dependencies have officially released statically linked builds. Thus, the best way to get good general-purpose builds of recent versions of the dependencies easily is to install them via the vcpkg package manager. vcpkg can also be used to install libtorrent.

The nice thing about vcpkg is that it also allows you to easily patch any of the packages that it installs, should you need/want to do so. Furthermore, you can even compile some dependencies with vcpkg, others manually, and mix-and-match when building qBittorrent.

Install and build vcpkg

git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg
cd .\vcpkg
.\bootstrap-vcpkg.bat -disableMetrics
.\vcpkg integrate install

Install the base dependencies

.\vcpkg install boost-circular-buffer:x64-windows-static boost-stacktrace:x64-windows-static openssl:x64-windows-static qt5-base:x64-windows-static qt5-svg:x64-windows-static qt5-tools:x64-windows-static qt5-winextras:x64-windows-static

Note that by default, vcpkg keeps all the buildtrees after each package installation. This is useful for patching and rebuilding, but they can take up a lot of space, so if you don't need them, you can additionally pass the --clean-after-build flag to the above command so that the buildtrees are deleted automatically after the installation. Or just delete them manually after the build is done.

Install libtorrent, option 1 - just install it via vcpkg

.\vcpkg install libtorrent:x64-windows-static

NOTE: Currently, vcpkg doesn't have versioning support, so this command will install whatever libtorrent version was present in the commit that vcpkg was at when you cloned the repository. At the time of writing, you could use --head to get the latest RC_1_2 commit instead, but if you want a specific commit/branch, you should go for option 2 instead.

Install libtorrent, option 2 - manually from source, using vcpkg dependencies

The easiest way to install libtorrent's dependencies via vcpkg is to actually install it and remove it right after; vcpkg will install all dependencies automatically in the process. To save time, interrupt the installation process once it reaches the libtorrent package itself:

.\vcpkg install libtorrent:x64-windows-static
.\vcpkg remove libtorrent:x64-windows-static

Then, clone the repository, checkout your preferred commit/tag, apply any patches you want to apply, and build and install it yourself (change the toolchain file path as needed):

git clone https://github.com/arvidn/libtorrent.git
git checkout RC_1_2
cmake -G "Ninja" -B cmake-build-dir -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="C:\path\to\vcpkg\scripts\buildsystems\vcpkg.cmake" -DVCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET="x64-windows-static" -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF -Dstatic_runtime=ON -Ddeprecated-functions=ON
cmake --build cmake-build-dir
cmake --install cmake-build-dir --prefix C:\some\folder\not\requiring\admin\privileges\libtorrent-install-dir

More information about building libtorrent can be found at https://libtorrent.org/building.html#building-with-cmake. Passing -Ddeveloper-options=ON to the configure command line will enable advanced build customization options.

Note: if you are developing/testing qBittorrent, you are encouraged to use -Ddeprecated-functions=OFF instead, to catch any potential use of deprecated libtorrent functionality (it will result in a compile error). Then, if you do, submit a bug report, or better yet, a PR fixing the problem :)

Build qBittorrent

Download and extract a .tar archive from the GitHub releases page or clone the repository and checkout the branch/tag of your choice.

Then, configure and build with CMake, using the vcpkg toolchain file (change the path to the file as needed):

• Assuming libtorrent was installed via vcpkg (option 1):

  cmake -G "Ninja" -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="C:\path\to\vcpkg\scripts\buildsystems\vcpkg.cmake" -DVCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET="x64-windows-static" -DMSVC_RUNTIME_DYNAMIC=OFF
  cmake --build build

• Assuming libtorrent was built manually, but still with vcpkg-installed dependencies (option 2):

  Same as above, but also pass -DLibtorrentRasterbar_DIR=C:\path\to\libtorrent-install-dir\lib\cmake\LibtorrentRasterbar to the configure command line.

Check out the common information page to learn more about the available build configuration options (for compiling without WebUI functionality, for instance).

Once qBittorrent is built, you can run it straight from the build directory.